Reviews by brinkdeer:

More User Reviews:

Appearance  This beer is black as night with a huge, volcanic head that literally covered the inside of my glass. Awesome!

Smell  Deep, rich coffee aroma with mild chocolate scents. The heavily toasted malt smell came out as well in this nose.

Taste  This one was too light and off-style for my tastes. The toasty flavors were there, but everything was a little too light. The coffee came out in the taste, but it felt cheap. The chocolate made a brief appearance, but most of the other flavors hinted in the bouquet were absent. There was absolutely no sweetness to this as well, which was disappointing.

Mouthfeel  There was a little carbonation which rubbed me the wrong way. This should be flat, smooth, and chewy, yet I got a fizz, light body, and watery.

Drinkability  It was a disheartening taste to say the least. I enjoy this line of brews (Snoqualmie is just a hop, skip, and a jump from where I live), but malt-oriented ales seem to be beyond the reach of this brewery.

Comments  This rating is all over the board I know, but it reflects my experience with the tasting.

Nearly pitch black with some ruby highlights. Beautiful frothy tan cappuccino lace clings to the glass very well. Dark chocolate dominates the nose with more of a cocoa powder and baker's chocolate smell, mild burnt prune, light roasted coffee and charcoal note deep within. Smooth, creamy and perhaps a bit slick on the tongue, medium body. Thick roasted grain flavor up front throws charcoal and espresso at the palate. Mild sweetness shows a faint dark fruitiness of dried plum, ghost-like yeast as well. Modest hop bitterness. Hints of brown bread and layers of more chocolate unfold with each sip and as the beer warms. Finishes semisweet but with a long, lingering roasted flavor that never really lets the sweetness come to the top.

A malt bomb of a Porter, lovely that it does not have to rely on hop character to balance, and the level of roast is near perfection. It's certainly a Robust Porter to hunt down.

Smell: Appetizing chocolaty aroma similar to unsweetened bakers chocolate. You get a mild charred and coffee hint here and there but it mainly stays with chocolate. Mild underlying yeast and sweetness but does not make much of a presence.

Taste: Bordering on silky smooth, creamy mouth feel that supports a sturdy medium body. Rich roasted palate, charred grain flavours throughout. Coco and carob are suggested to the taste buds, mild coffee also but the malt holds off on any great amount of sweetness and slowly drops a bit of it here and there. Hops are in good for helping to balance and the flavour is mostly of faint leafy and earthened tones. Esters are held to a calm minimum and present a faint fruity flavour of black currant. Finishes with a light sweetness.

Notes: A robust porter that is well balanced and does not go over the top yet still brings a lot to the table. Seriously, this porter rocks &#8230; all of its attributes roll and work together to form a nearly perfect brew. Cheers to Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company for putting out such a stellar porter.

Pours dark brown with a brown head. The aroma is roasted malt with some chocolate. The flavor is more of the same with roasted malts and some bitter chocolate. The aftertaste is heavily roasted/burnt malts. Medium mouthfeel and low carbonation. This was my first beer from this brewery and it didn't disappoint.

A- Deep chestnut brown almost black with a good 2 finger thick fine bubbly head. Good lacing on the top half of the glass.
S- Light powdery cocoa with smooth creamy vanilla cream and coffee.
T- Smooth light creamy vanilla in a good moderately heavy dose of light sweet chocolate and light roasted coffee bean.
M- Smooth and creamy. Finishes off with a good slightly dry chocolate bite.

Overall- Very smooth and very flavorful. Good chocolate/ coffee blend doesn't fade or fizzle.
(Thanks Adam!)

Black bodied brew, with ruby-orange edges. Creamed tan head fades slowly to a lacing.
Strong roasted aromas. Expresso, dark chocolate, ash, and charcoal. Carmel appears as it warms. Piney hops are far off in the distance and only occasionally recognized.
Starts immensely roasted, burnt and bitter (charred bitter, not hoppy bitter). Charred earth, strong expresso, char-grilled, ashy smokiness. Nice, but a bit oppressive. As it warms, sweetness begins to materialize. Carmel, vanilla and dried berry hues enter the fray. It all stays encapsulated in the roastedness. The piney hops are a pinprick at the finale.
This just gets better with each sip.
Just shy of medium bodied. Very little carbonation makes this slide down the throat.
A top notch porter. Thanks, jreitman

The body is an opaque black in color with no easily found highlights, but if you search you may find some clear crimson glints along the rim of the glass. But despite its intense color, the creamy deep tan head receeds to just a collar and a thin surface covering, although it does leave some interesting lace. The aroma is tantalizing with swirling notes of rich dark chocolate, fruitiness, and a dull roastiness that's not unlike spent espresso grounds. Its light body doesn't hold back any flavor, being rich with bittersweet chocolate, a berry-like fruitiness, burnt malt roastiness, and powdered cocoa that's backed by a firm bitterness. It finishes dry with a sweet cocoa-ish note, and some very light grassy & piney hop flavor and resonating roastiness in the aftertaste. This smooth, drinkable beer has alot of character to offer, but it needs to be served at cellar temperature to open up its full range of flavors.

Thanks again Market of choice for stocking this beer. Dark brown color with a dark tannish head. about half a finger's worth. Thick lacing around the edges throughout the glass. Smells of coffee, chocolate and a smoky aroma. It tasted very chocolate and had a cripy malt taste to it. However, one is all I could handle. I would like to try some of the breweries other beers if I ever make it up to Washington.

A- Pours a deep dark brown color. Good 2 finger mocha colored head that took a short while to work its way down leaving nice semi-heavy lacing on the sides of the glass.

S- Smells of burnt coffee right off the bat. It's almost a too burnt smell but chocolate notes bring a semi-sweetness to the aroma. Nice malty tone to this beer. Big smelling at least for a 5% beer!

T- Big roasted malt taste right off the get go. Coffee notes are tasted almost at the start of the sip all the way through to the middle. A chocolate taste starts right in the middle of the sip ending it with a semi-sweet taste that leaves a pleasant sweet roast combo on the tail end of the sip.

M- Heavy mouthfeel to this. Carbonation is a little bit off but still makes the beer very drinkable. This leaves a slick coating of burnt malts on the palate. Have to chew through this beer a little more than what I normally like.

D- This is a very drinkable porter. I had no problem drinking through the entire 22oz bottle. And to be honest I kind of wish I had more of this to drink. Fantasic porter to drink. Will have to find a way to get more.

Appearance: Wow. This was a gorgeous color. Almost completely black, but when I held it next to a candle flame, rich ruby and crimson clearly peaked through. It looked like a heavy cola or dark drip coffee. The pour was not done well, and there was virtually no head, which I would have loved to see. I blame this on the serving, not the brew.

Smell: This was probably the most enjoyable part of the beer. Strong esspresso, dark coffee, with a little bit of old tabacco and milk chocolate. Maybe fleeting rye as well.

Taste: Strong coffee and espresso right off the bat. Then a little of that tobacco flavor. Instead of tasting the milk chocolate, there was a distinctive dark chocolate/cocoa flavor that sat on the palate after the coffee made it's mark. Black strap molasses was in the background as well.

Mouthfeel: A little watery for the taste. I would have liked a little more cream and a coating of the mouth. But the mouthfeel did lead to a more drinkable brew.

Drinkability: I barely made it through a scooner (about a 12 oz glass), but it was good going down. Definitely a wintertime warmer. Good with heavy meals like steak or a burger. I had it with Three Cheese Ravioli and Marinara Sauce. Not too great.

The pour a jet-black color with the head planetary in size, creamy in consistency, as it desiccates the lace left behind a thick sticky sheet to seal off the glass. Toasted grains, coffee, somewhat sweet and not a bad nose for a porter, the start mostly malt, the top rather thin. Finish has a mild acidity, the hops perky in their spiciness, very dry and long lasting aftertaste, overall a fair to middling porter.

22 oz bottle courtesy of Libbey. Pours a rich near-black color with barely a hint of brown around the edges. Head is nice and creamy, tan and displays good retention and lacing.

Nose is roasted and chocolate malt with a little bit of a nutty edge and mild fruit.

Taste is a good blend of roast and brazil nuts with a nice, bubbly carbonation. Sweetness is low but still manages to be pretty full-bodied. Definitely dry on the finish as the roast and hops do a fine job scrubbing the palate. Very smooth, very drinkable and it gets better as it warms. Its not big and bold, high ABV or extreme...but it is a very well crafted beer that is something you could enjoy over and over again every day. I would have this often if I lived in the area; I bet it is especially nice fresh from the source!

Picked up a case of this at the brewery back in August 2007 and have been enjoying it gradually ever since. The bottle is as depicted, as the brewery only sells these in 22 oz bottles. No ingredient or freshness information on my bottles, but I'd say that bottle #12 tasted better than bottle #1.

Poured a dark - so dark that I can't tell if it is clear of cloudy - brown under a one finger dark beige head that fades very slowly to film and collar. The nose is full of caramel candy, backed by a bit of spice. The mouth is quite heavy and very prickly. The taste starts as a nice blend of roasted nuts, sweet caramel and spicey bitter. The bitter morphs and strengthens to espresso as it warms. The caramel, however, never fades, leaving a good mix throughout. Nicely balanced and assertive, but not overwhelming. Well done.

Pertinent Preliminary Comments: Many thanks to BrewDog for providing this one. Have heard rumblings in the past about this brewery, and all of them good.

APPEARANCE: Jet black  may be the blackest porter Ive seen yet. Just a tiny bit of root beer brown at the edges. Tan head fades rather quickly; almost no lace.

AROMA: Dark fruit at first, then chocolate and coffee surge to the forefront. Very light hops in the nose.

FLAVOR: Yep  its robust, all right. Nice roasty character jumps right out at you, heavier on the black malt than the chocolate, but not much. Chewy chocolate, espresso, and charcoal come through. A bit acidic in the finish, but clean nonetheless. Well balanced.

MOUTHFEEL: Light to medium bodied, medium carbonation.

DRINKABILITY: Sure went down fast! And at 5.3%ABV, one could have a few in a sitting and still be able to stand up afterwards.

OVERALL COMMENTS: A good solid porter, designed for easy drinking, with just enough going on to keep things interesting for the palate.